Northern Arizona University
AC-3: Undergraduate Program

These degrees provide a broad-based and rigorous background in interdisciplinary approaches to understanding environmental and sustainability processes. The environmental studies degree allows students to focus on an environmental issue, rather than concentrating in a particular discipline. This focus approach allows students to draw upon courses across the university to improve their perspective on that issue.

All the environmental degrees at NAU are run through the School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability. We have 23 tenured or full-time faculty in SESES, some of whom split their time between SESES and another academic program (e.g. Biology, Geology, Political Science), but some of whom are full time in environmental sciences/studies. All our major courses are taught by full-time, tenure-track faculty members. We view our degree programs as pre-professional in nature. We require an internship, research project, or field experience for all our majors. These degrees provide a broad-based and rigorous background in interdisciplinary approaches to understanding environmental processes. The environmental sciences degree uses a set of science core courses and a concentration in a natural science or social science discipline to help students develop a science-based approach to the environment and sustainability.

All the environmental degrees at NAU are run through the School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability. We have 23 tenured or full-time faculty in SESES, some of whom split their time between SESES and another academic program (e.g. Biology, Geology, Political Science), but some of whom are full time in environmental sciences/studies. All our major courses are taught by full-time, tenure-track faculty members. We view our degree programs as pre-professional in nature. We require an internship, research project, or field experience for all our majors. These degrees provide a broad-based and rigorous background in interdisciplinary approaches to understanding environmental processes. The environmental sciences degree uses a set of science core courses and a concentration in a natural science or social science discipline to help students develop a science-based approach to the environment and sustainability.

Environmental and Sustainability Studies BA
Environmental and Sustainability Studies BS

https://nau.edu/ses/environmental-and-sustainability-studies-bachelor-of-science/

This minor allows students to explore climate change, the relationship between nature and culture, the ethics and politics of environmental decision-making, and how perspectives on sustainability are expressed humanistically, politically, scientifically, and culturally.

Program Info:
Issues of sustainability, climate change adaptation and mitigation, environmental justice, biodiversity, and increasing demand for finite food, water, and energy resources become more critical every day. To better understand—and improve—our relationship with the natural world, consider the environmental studies program at Northern Arizona University.

Here, you will study ecosystems and the ways humans interact with them using the perspectives of the natural and social sciences and the humanities. You will work extensively with full-time professors who have practical experience in the environmental sciences and sustainability. You’ll have many opportunities for field study and research; our faculty members include undergraduate students in all research projects, and you will be required to complete an undergraduate research project or internship. You will learn how to develop solutions for these issues and prepare for a career in research, industry, education, government, or public service.

Students who feel passionately about the environment use this minor to pursue field work and research in what is undoubtedly a world-shaking science. The plan probes many perspectives, including those from humanities and from the natural and social sciences, to present possible solutions and to provoke a sense of shared responsibility for the Earth's finite resources.

The Sustainable and Resilient Communities minor is designed to provide students a background in geographic man-land interactions involving community, resilience and the environment as communities seek to use or restrict resources, or respond to the environment they interface with. Students in this minor explore the essentials of community development including infrastructure, urban planning, community need and resilience, economic and environmental impacts of development and the sustainable use of resources by user communities at the local and global levels.

Students will learn to assess the requirements of NEPA and write environmental assessment and impact statements, to visually represent spatial data using geographic information systems, to critically assess impacts of culture, economics and values regarding development and environmental interfaces, and evaluate land ideologies and policies formulating use and response.

The minor in Sustainable and Resilient Communities is a useful supplement for students preparing for careers in public lands agencies, community response agencies such as FEMA, community nonprofits at local and global scales, and conservation organizations as well as those interested in advocating as citizen planners.

Though not solely Sustainability focused, this is a list of Minors that address themes or major challenges of Sustainability:
• Anthropology
• Applied Indigenous Studies Minor
• Arts and Cultural Management
• Asian Studies
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Civic Engagement
• Civil Engineering
• Community Design
• Community Health
• Disability Studies
• Environmental Communication
• Environmental Engineering
• Ethnic Studies
• Geographic Information Systems
• Geographic Regional Studies
• Humanities
• Indigenous Health Studies
• Justice Studies
• Law and Society
• Law, Rights and Justice
• Native American Studies
• Nutrition and Foods
• Parks and Recreation Management
• Photojournalism and Documentary Studies
• Physical Geography
• Political Science
• Queer Studies
• Social Science Forensics
• Social Work
• Sociological Sciences
• Sociology
• Tribal Public Administration
• U.S. Mexico Border Social Work
• Women’s and Gender Studies

Specific Emphasis areas in Degree Programs
• Anthropology – Sociocultural Anthropology Emphasis
• Comparative Cultural Studies – Art History Emphasis
• Comparative Cultural Studies – Asian Studies Emphasis
• Comparative Cultural Studies – Public Humanities Emphasis
• Creative Media and Film – Documentary Emphasis
• Creative Media and Film – Media Studies Emphasis
• Informatics – Bioinformatics Emphasis
• Informatics - Ecoinformatics Emphasis
• Psychological Sciences – Clinical/Health Psychology Emphasis
• Psychological Sciences – Social/Personality Psychology Emphasis

Information provided by: laurie.dickson@nau.edu